Cannot add channels to DAQ device

I am using NI DAQ USB-6501 (which is listed as supported) on a Win7 x64 machine. I have to use a session-based connection but cannot add a channel...

The card is clearly found and working:

 devices = daq.getDevices

 devices = 

 ni Dev1: National Instruments USB-6501
   Counter input subsystem supports:
      Rates from 0.0 to 0.0 scans/sec
      1 channel
      'EdgeCount' measurement type

 daq.getVendors

 ans = 

 Data acquisition vendor 'National Instruments':

            ID: 'ni'
      FullName: 'National Instruments'
AdaptorVersion: '3.0 (R2011b)'
 DriverVersion: '9.6.0 NI-DAQmx'
 IsOperational: true

but no luck when I try to add a connection:

 s=daq.createSession('ni');

 s = 

 Data acquisition session using National Instruments hardware:
   Will run for 1 second (1000 scans) at 1000 scans/second.
   No channels have been added.

 >> s.addAnalogOutputChannel('Dev1','ai0','Voltage')
 The requested subsystem 'AnalogOutput' does not exist on this device.

 s.addCounterOutputChannel('Dev1',0,'EdgeCount')
 The requested subsystem 'CounterOutput' does not exist on this device.

Help? Any idea how I'm supposed to add an output channel to this?

Answer 1

[Akshay]

The spec sheet for NI DAQ USB 6501 device shows that it belongs to the Digital I/O product family. The data sheet for the device indicates no analog Input/Output channels.

To see the supported subsystem for your device on your release of MATLAB, you can check in the report generated by executing the following command

>> daqsupport

When I execute the above mentioned command for R2011b (your specified version of MATLAB) I can see that this release of MATLAB supports only “CounterInput” subsystem.

You can add Counter Input channels using the following commands:

>> s=daq.createSession('ni');
>> s.addCounterInputChannel('Dev1','ctr0','EdgeCount')

To add Digital Channels to your device, upgrade to the latest release of MATLAB (any release beyond R2012a). You can then use the same device and add digital input/output channels as well.

ni: National Instruments USB-6501 (Device ID: 'Dev1')
     Digital subsystem supports:
        24 channels ('port0/line0' - 'port2/line7')
        'InputOnly','OutputOnly','Bidirectional' measurement types

     Counter input subsystem supports:
        1 channel ('ctr0')
        'EdgeCount' measurement type

Then you can try executing the following commands to add digital channels to your device.

>> s=daq.createSession('ni'); 
>> s.addDigitalChannel('Dev1','port0/line0','Bidirectional')

Please refer the link for more information on addDigitalChannel function